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by CMitchell
Summary: Beth and Daryl's journey to seek sanctuary. Continues immediately after the episode 'Still' and goes AU.
1. Chapter 1

Takes place immediately after the episode 'Still' and spirals into AU!

Chapter One

As they trekked through the pitch black woods Beth felt the chill in the air in front of her, losing the heat of the fire behind her with every step. Maybe she should have thought through burning the house down before being able to take advantage of spending the night in a warm, safe space. Oh well, crap happens. She snuck a glance sideways at Daryl, it was the first time he had slowed to match her pace, rather than forcing her to keep up with his. His face seemed more relaxed and younger somehow, like the fire was burning away all the shit memories in his life. Beth felt a pang of pity in her heart at his shit start in life but quickly shook the thought of before Daryl could read it in her face and start shouting all over again.

He caught her gazing at him and put his arm out in front of her to stop her walking. Beth felt her heart give a little flutter of excitement as she felt his hand lightly on her stomach. She knew something had shifted and changed between them. Daryl nodded his head forward giving her an amused smirk before resuming walking. Beth looked forwards and was surprised to find her face just a few inches from a large tree. She felt herself blush and couldn't decide what was worse, the fact he had caught her staring that intensely at him or if she had actually face planted the tree…

Beth fell back into step with him again and kept her mind focused on putting one foot in front of the other as quietly as possible, not really paying any attention to where Daryl was leading her until she spied a familiar rope holding two wheel trims a few inches of the ground.

"Are you kidding me!?" she blurted out, frowning in annoyance.

"It's just for tonight," he grumbled back, squatting down to begin arranging their blankets underneath their makeshift tent.

"But I just got you to leave!" she shouted without thinking. Suddenly Daryl was there right in front of her face, mere millimetres separating their noses.

"Do you wanna lure every walker here girl?" he whispered harshly in her face, "It's a safe space to stay till morning, without worrying about walkers killing me in my sleep, and then we will look for something new. Now get your ass into bed before I kill you!" he growled. But Beth knew him well enough to know he wouldn't actually hurt her, but she should definitely do as he says. She stomped over to the tent while he pointed looked at her with a raised eyebrow, daring her to make more noise. She rolled her eyes and worked on getting settled under the pile of blankets they had scavenged over the last few weeks. Daryl did one more sweep of the surrounding woods and came and settled next to her.

As she lay there facing his back she knew she was right about something changing between them in that cabin. Before shed never given a second thought about sleeping next to Daryl, it was smart and safe, but now it felt strangely intimate and made her nervous. She noticed his breathing hadn't evened out into the peacefulness of sleep yet either, meaning he was affected somehow too. She rolled carefully onto her back and looked at the tarpaulin above her wondering how she could prolong this intimate connection between them, before he probably bottled himself right back up again in the morning.

"I have never had a pet pony," she threw out there, he rolled over onto his opposite side to face her and looked at her pointedly, "I had a horse not a pony," she clarified.

"I don't have a drink and neither do you," he pointed out.

"It doesn't matter," she said looking him directly in the eyes, she could see the intimacy of the look was making him uncomfortable, so she averted her eyes back to the ceiling. A few minutes of uncomfortable silence passed between them before he grumbled "Fine," and mimed taking a shot. She smiled warmly at him, glad he wanted to continue, but she seemed to make him uncomfortable again so he looked away from her.

"I've never been on a boat," he said. She looked at him blankly.

"Me neither. I have never… had a job," she said, surprised that even after their earlier conversation he still mimed taking a shot, "What no paper round? No nothin?" He ignored her.

"I've never admitted how I like the world better now," he said stunning her to silence. A million questions barrelled through her head, but judging by his face it was better to ask nothing before he closed down completely, she mimed taking a shot herself and he looked at her surprised.

"Everyone used to treat me like I was stupid and useless and would never amount to nothing, I was going to marry some boy my dad picked out and keep house for him," she explained, hoping to encourage more explanations out of him.

"Is this going to go on all night?" he asked, but she could tell he was only feigning annoyance at her.

"Probably," she smiled at him, laughing when he groaned in exasperation with her. Oh yes she was definitely making this last as long as she could.


	2. Chapter 2

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time to review, favourite and follow! I am completely overwhelmed and have never experienced such a response to a fanfiction before, so thank you all so much!

Chapter Two

Beth awoke with a start. She must have fallen asleep at some point during her 'I have never' game with Daryl. She rolled onto her side to find the space next to her empty and cold and tried to squash the feeling of disappointment that bubbled within her. What had she really expected? She sat up in her makeshift bed and shook her long blonde hair free of it's hair tie and attempted to brush through the knots with her fingers. Yes something had definitely changed with Daryl, she suddenly felt inadequate compared to the women in Daryl's past who had probably at least owned a brush and soap, she thought.

She heard the tarpaulin give a rustle above her head and she grabbed her hunting knife from it's place next to her head and held it in what she hoped was as aggressive as she could be whilst lying down. The orange tarpaulin was suddenly yanked from above her head to lying on the ground at her feet, allowing the powerful morning sunshine to hit her full force. Her eyes burned in a way they never had before and her head throbbed like it was going to explode. She managed a strangled whine at the walker as it approached her from the side and jumped when she felt it's warm hand on her forearm holding the knife, stopping the fear and sending that familiar tingle of excitement through her.

Daryl glanced at her face before releasing her arm and turning away from her to begin rolling up their 'tent' for the journey, grunting the word 'hangover' in her direction as she curled into the foetal position on the ground. Next thing Beth knew she was rolling along the ground as Daryl pulled the groundsheet out from under her. Oh God the dizziness was not good! She wobbled to her feet feeling the world sinking away as her head spun and her stomach churned. She managed to stagger a few feet before throwing up violently near their burned out fire. She heard Daryl chuckle behind her and felt herself blushing in utter humiliation.

"How's that first drink treatin you princess?" he hollered at her with a smirk and turned back to continue packing their things up. He shook his head absent mindedly wondering why Beth had expected to down moonshine like soda and wake up as fresh as a daisy. He knew making fun of her was probably making her feel worse, but he didn't know any other way. His family had never really been the hugs and kisses and molly coddling type. At least he hadn't pushed her face in it like his Father had done after his first moonshine binge.

By the time he had their meagre possessions packed into two small back-packs Beth was curled back in the foetal position, occasionally dry heaving into the hole they had dug for fires. He did his best to conceal his smirk and nudged her shoulder gently with his boot.

"Gotta go," he said and received a very un-lady like groan in response, "Come on princess, leavin with or without ya!"

Beth felt her stomach flutter in a pleasant way at the nickname her seem to have given her, it may be slightly insulting, but it was less insulting than being called girl or kid. She shakily got to her feet and took a deep, steadying breath. She focused on putting one foot in front of the other until she reached the far side of the camp where Daryl stood waiting. She felt a surge of anger at him, why wasn't he feeling the booze too? He seemed to look her up and down taking in her shaky feet and pale clammy face before giving her a small smile and lifting both backpacks, placing one on each of his shoulders. He turned his back on her and began to walk a slow pace into the woods.

Beth felt her anger at him dissipate instantly. This was Daryl's way of being nice to her and taking care of her; he didn't know what to say or do so he simply lightened her load. She sighed and started determinedly after him into the woods. It was going to be one long ass day…


	3. Chapter 3

I would just like to thank everyone again for their reviews, favourites and follows, it means the world to me guys! I will try and make my updates longer from now on.

Chapter Three

Beth awoke to bright light glaring through a gap in the tarpaulin and blearily recollected the events of the previous day. She had walked through the woods spending most of the time lagging behind Daryl, vomiting at random intervals. She had going to a point in the afternoon where Beth had thought there would be no more, then Daryl had thrown her a bottle of water, which she had greedily gulped down, half an hour later it was a now familiar hello to the ground, dry heaving whilst curled up in a ball. At that point she must have fallen asleep and Daryl had set up the tent around her. Christ she must have been out of it. She was mildly pleased to note that she didn't feel dizzy or sick anymore but she now felt hungry to the point where she would have killed for greasy fast food.

Still feeling very sorry for herself Beth crawled out from underneath the tent. She caught Daryl looking at her with a strange expression on his face.

"What?" she demanded, feeling self-conscious and checking if her hair was sticking up or there was something hanging out of her nose. Daryl merely shook his head and rose to begin collecting their things.

"You didn't need to set the tent up while I took a nap," she said. Daryl snorted and raised his eyebrows at her, his hair flicking into his eyes in a way that made her stomach flip-flop pleasantly.

"That nap lasted thirteen hours, so yeah I kinda did," he snorted again at Beth's cute stunned expression. He looked down at the rope and wheel trim line he was gathering from around them and when he lifted his eyes a moment later to sneak a glance at her she was right there next to him, centimetres from his face. She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, his harsh stubble tickling her lips. Their eyes locked and a heated staring contest began.

"Thank you," she said before turning away from and they both felt a rush of disappointment and emptiness. Beth took a moment to herself, she might be 'innocent' as everyone called her, but she had seen the way Daryl looked at her and the way he responded to her. Fuck it, it's the apocalypse and she could die tomorrow, she had to start grabbing life by the balls. Her internal monologue lasted mere seconds before she took Daryl by surprise by turning on her heel and stomping back towards him, a determined look in her baby blues. She closed her eyes on instinct and firmly pressed her lips on his, kissing him as hard as she dared. When he didn't respond to her, she stopped and took a step back, taking in his floored facial expression and tense stance. She felt herself flush deeply and turned away embarrassed.

"Sorry," she muttered and began packing things away just to busy herself.

Daryl felt himself land back on planet Earth with a bump. He had been shocked beyond belief when Beth had kissed him, her lips had been soft and warm with the suggestion of something more behind it. Don't get him wrong he had thought about all of the women in the prison and none of them seemed like they could ever go for a guy like him, so he never made a move on any of them. Who would ever have thought sweet little Beth Greene would ever jump on an older redneck like that? He shook his head wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now. He looked at her toned back as she faced away from him keeping herself busy and he decided to do what he always did when put in an awkward situation: talk little and do nothing.

He grabbed the tent out of her hands and shoved it in his own backpack.

"Let's go," he grunted and strode off into the woods, careful to keep his strides slow so she could keep up on her shorter legs. The thought struck him that he had never anybody to take care of like this before, never had anyone rely on him this way before. He and Merle had just drifted from place to place but he had always known that they didn't really need each other, they chose to keep each other company in their shit life. That's why things were better now, all that crap before didn't matter. It was true what Beth had said the other day about him being built for how things are now, it didn't matter if he had been poor, now he had a spoiled girl to take care of. Of course things were better, two years ago Beth would have crossed the street so she didn't have to walk past him and now she was kissing him, how could things not be better?

They walked on in silence for most of the morning before Daryl spotted something up ahead; train tracks. He signalled to Beth to halt while he pulled his crossbow from his back and examined the scene before him. Everything seemed clear so he motioned for her to walk across to the other side. He swung the bow left and right, checking for both walkers and people, there were so many threats to them. Again he drew parallels between life in general then and now, he was worried about being attacked by people, but this had still been a worry two years ago with muggers, rapists and serial killers plastered all over the front pages of the papers. He began to reach the woods at the other side of the tracks when Beth's voice stopped him.

"Wait!" she called to him. He spun round looking for somewhere to aim his bow at whatever threat was upon them but lowered it in shock when he saw what had made her stop. They has passed the small grey building without paying much attention to it, as long as it was clear of threats he didn't really care, but on the side of that dirty building, scrawled sickeningly in blood were the words "Glen, Go to Terminus, Maggie." Daryl felt his heart lift at the thought of the survival of more of his friends but paused when he saw Beth's frowning face.

"What?" he asked.

"I know Glen is her husband but why isn't the message for me?" she asked her voice cracking, her own sister either assumed her dead and incapable of surviving or didn't care if she had survived anyway. Daryl stood frozen on the spot as large tears began to roll down Beth's cheeks, he hated crying women. Normally he was the cause of it and just walked away, usually to get a drink, but he didn't want to leave Beth. She looked oh so frail, standing with her hands by her sides in her blood spattered clothes, crying. He awkwardly moved to her side, and unsure what to do slipped her small, soft hand into his own large callused one, and gave her a gentle squeeze. He allowed her a few more minutes of self-pity before pulling her by the hand back onto the tracks and setting them off walking down the barren tracks.

"Where are we going?" she asked warily, still highly aware of her hand in his, and panicking mildly that her hand might start sweating.

"You gonna wanna shout at your sister in person right?" he asked smiling. She smiled her first real smile in days and focused on their journey.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone sorry for the update delay I've been busy playing with an original fiction I'm working on. Thank you to everyone who favourite-d, followed and most importantly reviewed- you guys keep me going! I have taken some bits from the next few episodes but I felt that it added to the story and would add to this story!

Chapter Four

"I belong with you, you belong with me in my sweet heart," Beth found herself singing softly to herself as she waited by the tracks for Daryl. With no one to keep them back weeds had overgrown the tracks, but Beth still thought the sight of something growing was beautiful. She was as giddy as a school girl after Daryl had held her hand and had kept it that way while they had walked for over an hour, stopping only when Daryl had to go to the bathroom, leaving her standing waiting by the tracks. She felt her brain going into overdrive about what was going to happen when he came back, did they carry on holding hands? Was he just trying to comfort her? No matter what was said and what happened he would probably end up thinking she was a total spaz.

The trees rustled lightly behind her and she automatically grabbed for her knife at her belt and held it ready above her head, twirling to come face to face with Daryl.

"What is it with you trying to stab me woman?" Daryl asked, mildly annoyed at the constant near stab instances lately. Beth felt herself wilt slightly, yep, definite spaz. "There's a small town a few miles north of here," Daryl continued, indicating in the direction they were travelling, "We should reach it in time to get a house cleared out for the night."

"A house? A real house with a real bed?" Beth couldn't help but get over excited at the thought of a real mattress after months and months of hard, cold ground or the hard, cold lump that passed for a bed in the prison. She took a moment to remember her bed at the farm longingly.

"Maybe," was Daryl's reply, he didn't want her to get her hopes up, and for him to be the one that lets her down, "Come on," he set off walking without waiting for her to ready herself, but started at a slow pace that she could easily catch up to. Truth be told he had no idea what to do, this was an entirely new experience for him, a girl usually kissed him, he slept with her once, and then she left. He had never held a girls hand and been nice to them in any way other than a platonic friendship way, he just didn't know how to deal, and sometimes he came across all wrong.

He thought back to the prison, Carol had thought he had been flirting with her, when really he was just being him. She had swapped a watch shift with Tyreese to go up to one of the watch towers with him. Before Daryl had known what was happening Carol had been in his lap, grinding herself against him, muttering how she wanted him too. Daryl just didn't see Carol that way, she was his sister, his friend, but he had removed her silently, setting her down on her feet and left her there in the deafening silence. He had continued that silent treatment until he found out from Rick that she had been exiled and it was far too late to get things back to normal or even explain himself to her.

A small blonde head bobbed into step beside him and he allowed himself a sideways glace at Beth, admiring the way the polo shirt and jeans clung to her petite curves. Despite being covered in gore she still looked beautiful, like a blood spattered angel. He shook his head trying to clear those thoughts from his head, he shouldn't think of Beth in that way, it would just complicate things and make her uncomfortable.

An hour later and the few scattered buildings began to get ever closer. Daryl paused to take in their best angle to take to get into this town safely, spotting a collection of headstones and a small white building in the distance. Perfect, everybody else would probably have avoided a funeral home as it would probably give them the creeps, making it safe for him to sleep for more than an hour at a time without worrying about someone grabbing Beth when his guard was down. He pointed it out to her and she raised her eyebrows in surprise, studying his face for a moment before nodding her head in agreement and striding past him towards their destination. He allowed himself a small smile at how far she had come from the girl who was cutting her wrists in her bedroom at the farm.

If she was honest Beth was pissed. First she had kissed him and he hadn't responded, then he had held her hand and then he had ignored her for the past hour, she was feeling utterly mind fucked about where the hell she stood and what the hell was going on. She had stomped past him towards the funeral home but when she had peeked a look back at him he had been smiling before he set off to join her. Beth held in a growl of frustration and continued her stomp towards the white building until she saw something that made her heart break. A broken head stone, the remaining inscription read "Beloved father, gone but not forgotten". Beth froze in place and stared and the head stone, trying to catalogue the emotions barrelling through her. She heard a rustle behind her and saw Daryl step in front of her and place a bunch of dandelions in front of the grave. Beth felt a tear roll down her cheek at his gesture, the usually grumpy, unfeeling man had shown he was capable of feelings to her once again. He stepped back and awkwardly placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for an attempt at a comforting half hug.

Daryl spotted the tear blazing its way down Beth's cheek and he couldn't stop himself from leaning over and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead that lasted a second too long to be platonic and allowed him to take a sharp inhale of her scent. Her scent stirred something animalistic in him. Beth slowly turned her head to face him and saw the lust in his eyes that made her stomach get butterflies of excitement and something else stir inside her. His face edged a few centimetres closer to hers and she instinctively closed the gap between them, her earlier anger completely forgotten as their lips grazed each other gently at first.

That first touch was all Daryl needed to turn his fire for her into an inferno and her spun her to face him and kissed her roughly pouring all his passion and desire for her into that kiss. Beth had to stand on her tiptoes to reach when he pulled her head to his. She was momentarily stunned at the ferocity of his kiss now versus his lack of reaction earlier, she felt his tongue slide into her mouth to battle with her own and she moaned loudly. That was all the approval Daryl needed as he lifted her off the ground and pushed her legs to wrap around his hips, never breaking their kiss, and spun them to pin her against the large headstone behind them. Beth's mind was whirling, she had been kissed before and she had had sex before but it had never, ever felt anything like this before, never this good. Out of instinct Beth ground her hips against him and found Daryl rock hard already, pressing prominently against her own soaking crotch, they both groaned.

Daryl came back to planet earth with a crash when they both groaned and pulled back from the kiss, taking in the sight of Beth panting in his arms, he had never seen anything so…so….good before. He didn't want to have fast, meaningless sex with Beth, she deserved better than that, and she deserved romance and flowers and other things that he sucked at. The turmoil of emotions continued inside him and he didn't know how to tell her about it, he never had been any good at conveying his emotions. He noted that Beth hadn't moved or spoken, she was just hanging there in his arms waiting for him to tell her in his own time and way what was going on. Daryl struggled around in his mind for how to explain himself to her. He lowered her gently back onto her feet.

"Not here," he grunted at her.


	5. Chapter 5

Huge thanks to everyone following this! Reviews are muchly appreciated and inspire me to write more! Sorry this update is a little short, I was running low on inspiration towards the end!

Chapter Five

After telling Beth: "Not here" Daryl had turned to walk slowly towards the house worried he had hurt her feelings. He had hurt girls feelings before when they had wanted more than sex from him, and it had usually resulted in them shouting and screeching at him, and although Beth didn't seem like the type to screech, better to be safe than sorry. He didn't want to hurt her, the opposite actually, he wanted her to be eternally happy and have the best of everything and that unfortunately just wasn't him. He jumped slightly in surprise when he felt Beth's small hand slip into his and give it a soft squeeze.

As they walked slowly toward the impeccably white building in the centre of the cemetery, still hand in hand, Daryl wondered when Beth had begun to understand him this much, to be honest Beth was wondering the same thing herself. She didn't know how she knew to not push Daryl but she did. Daryl signalled to her to cover him as they approached the door. Her gently dropped her hand to raise his crossbow and did his 'hunters prowl' the remaining few yards to the door. In a burst of noise and action he kicked the door wide open so its aged hinges groaned in protest. He scanned the hallway and it appeared empty, but always better to be safe than sorry especially these days. He banged loudly on the door frame, hollering for the owners to come out. Silence greeted them, no walker groaning, which was an excellent sign.

Beth cautiously followed Daryl into the pristine white living room, which had been arranged as a kind of viewing room. She couldn't help but let her thoughts wander to how, if this had been her house, she would have added lots more colour, colour seemed to mean family, white seemed to imply the person who lived here was very lonely. No pictures of smiling parents, grandparents or children adorned the walls. No faint scratches on the polished wooden floors or the beige leather couch from much loved family pets. Daryl continued soundlessly into the next room, the kitchen, peering round every corner crossbow first.

Beth glanced at the flawless white kitchen cupboards. Maybe these hadn't been completely looted? She gently opened the cupboard door, noticing how her dirty hands left smeared finger prints on the white wood, she would really need a shower soon. She couldn't contain her squeal of delight when she opened the cupboard, causing Daryl to swing his crossbow towards her. Did he think the world's smallest walker had been hiding in there? She nodded her head towards the bounty in front of her, a huge grin on her face. She watched with delight as Daryl's face changed from its usual frown, to surprised, to smiling softly at her, a look she didn't think she had ever seen on his face before and certainly not directed at her.

Daryl moved to start inspecting the contents of the cupboard, noting how Beth's beautiful smile had caused him to have a goofy one of his own. Peanut butter, pigs feet, chips, beef jerky and candy bars. Beth couldn't hold herself back from grabbing the first candy bar that came to hand, ripping it open and stuffing half of it in her mouth, groaning at the pleasure of chocolate after so long without it. Daryl felt his pants tighten at that groan, remembering causing that groan himself mere minutes ago. Beth seemed to realise he was looking at her strangely and lowered the chocolate from her mouth.

"Whafft," she choked out through a mouthful of chocolate. Daryl couldn't resist inching closer and lifting his thumb to the side of her mouth, wiping away an escaped drop of chocolate. His eyes locked on hers as he raised his thumb to his own mouth and gently sucked the chocolate off, never breaking their eye contact. Beth felt herself shudder in excitement and lean towards him, but accidentally knocked a discarded plate from the worktop in the process, it shattered loudly on the hardwood floor, causing them to jump apart.

"This is someone stash," Daryl stated nodding at the cupboard while Beth bent to collect the pieces, the moment well and truly gone, "No dust on anything so hasn't been here long." Beth collected the pieces and threw them in the stainless steel trash can in the corner, Daryl was right, no dust or rust on anything. Daryl caught her attention and indicated he was going to explore the rest of the house. Beth felt herself sigh in disappointment as she stared as his retreating back. Life in the apocalypse just got so much more complicated.


End file.
